Site of the nation’s ‘dirtiest coal plant’ is now part of Nevada’s clean energy transition

Fifty miles northeast of Las Vegas, just outside the unincorporated town of Moapa, the Muddy River flows through a flat-bottomed desert valley.

The spring-fed perennial stream meanders from its headwaters near the lush, palm tree-dotted Warm Springs Natural Area on its way to Lake Mead. Along the way, it passes the former Reid Gardner Power Station.

For nearly five decades, the station stood in stark juxtaposition to the river; a bastion of steel and cement surrounded by barbed wire, with four towering coal-fired units that belched toxic particulates and carbon into the air while producing hundreds of megawatts of power. In 2007, it was rated the nation’s dirtiest coal plant in terms of carbon dioxide emissions.

Once the future of industrialization, the death knell is ringing for coal across the nation and in Nevada. In the push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lawmakers and utilities are distancing themselves from coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel. In 2022, it accounted for 19 percent of total U.S. energy-related carbon emissions.